The 18th BRICS Summit, held in New Delhi on 12–13 September, closed India’s fourth chairship of the grouping, following those of 2012, 2016 and 2021. It also came as BRICS marks two decades of cooperation, now with a much larger membership and a wider geographical reach than when it began. What distinguished India’s year was less the summit itself than everything that surrounded it.
Opening the Summit, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi described the Chairship as guided by a “people-centric and humanity-first approach”, built around resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability, which was also the formal theme of the year. The New Delhi Declaration reaffirmed sovereign equality, mutual respect and consensus, called for a more representative and responsive multilateral system, and thanked the Government and people of India for hosting.
A wider table
The scale of engagement was unusual. The Declaration welcomed more than 400 meetings and engagements across 30 Indian cities, involving ministers, parliamentarians, officials, experts and businesses. BRICS was not confined to meeting rooms in the capital; it reached universities, research institutions and firms across the country.
That matters because diplomacy is no longer the preserve of foreign ministries alone. Researchers, entrepreneurs and young professionals build the durable links between countries, and the Chairship tried to give them a place in the conversation.
Where diplomacy meets deep tech
The clearest illustration was the BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition, held at Bharat Mandapam on 11–12 September alongside the BRICS Business Forum. Organised by the Ministry of Education with the Ministry of External Affairs, it showcased 37 Indian deep-tech startups and ventures to business leaders, investors and institutions from BRICS countries. The 37 were drawn from the 120 ventures presented at the first Bharat Innovates exposition in Nice, France, in June 2026.
The idea is simple: use a diplomatic platform to open commercial doors, whether for technology partnerships, investment or market access. Whether those conversations turn into deals will be the real test.
Technology, finance and the fine print
Technology ran through the agenda. The Declaration backed cooperation in science and innovation, welcomed the BRICS Incubator Network, the BRICS Science and Research Repository and work on quantum technologies, and noted further consideration of a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund. It highlighted digital public infrastructure, digital skills and resilient connectivity, including submarine cables, and supported accessible, safe and reliable artificial intelligence while acknowledging the risks. It also recognised India’s hosting of the AI Impact Summit in February.
On finance, the approach was pragmatic and incremental. The Declaration commended progress on the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2030, the framework for future sectoral programmes. Members continued technical work on interoperability between payment and messaging systems and on wider use of local currencies for trade settlement, while recognising that national priorities and regulatory systems differ and that no single model suits every member. Discussions on a New Investment Platform are to proceed in a phased, consensus-based and member-driven way. India also put forward a BRICS Risk Lab at GIFT City’s International Financial Services Centre, aimed at building capacity in insurance and reinsurance.
Less visible, but significant, is tax cooperation. BRICS tax authorities worked on international taxation, transfer pricing and revenue statistics, with the BRICS Tax Support Network and the Tax Cross-Learning Lab serving as knowledge-sharing platforms. For developing economies, which often face the same cross-border tax questions, comparing notes is a practical form of cooperation.
People, health and food
Beyond governments, the Chairship convened parliamentary, business, academic, youth, women’s business, think-tank and civil society forums. Young people are at the centre of change in education, employment and technology, and networks built among them can outlast any single chairship. The BRICS Women Ministerial Meeting in Kochi highlighted financial and digital inclusion, skills, entrepreneurship and leadership for women.
In health, the Declaration endorsed a BRICS Mission for Healthy Lifestyle and a joint roadmap for 2026–2029. On mental health it backed a Training Hub Network and a Network of Centres of Excellence, with NIMHANS as the coordinating centre. It also supported a BRICS Expert Working Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine, stressing evidence-informed approaches and appropriate regulation. On food security, members welcomed further discussion of a possible BRICS Grain Exchange.
The Global South, and the limits of uniformity
An expanded BRICS brings together countries with different economic structures, regional experiences and priorities, and its members do not share identical interests on every issue. India hosted an Outreach/BRICS Plus Dialogue to engage partner countries, consistent with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s stated aim of advancing the priorities of the Global South. The Declaration reiterated the call for more representative global governance, including United Nations reform and greater representation for developing countries in decision-making.
The Declaration returns repeatedly to consultation, consensus and national circumstances. That is less a limitation than a design principle. That India, under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, was able to bring a larger and more diverse BRICS to consensus on the New Delhi Declaration is a notable diplomatic achievement. The value of an expanded BRICS lies not in uniformity but in finding the areas where practical cooperation is possible.
What comes next
The New Delhi Summit ends India’s 2026 Chairship, but not the initiatives it set in motion. Many will need continued technical work and coordination, across technology and research, digital connectivity, economic engagement, health, agriculture and youth cooperation. BRICS leaders expressed gratitude to India for its Chairship, and China now takes over for 2027 and will host the 19th Summit.
Chairships are remembered less for what is announced than for what survives the handover. The measure of India’s year will be how many of these initiatives are still moving when the next summit convenes.
The article is written by Union Minister Sukanto Mazumadar.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author are solely their own and do not reflect the official position or views of Hindustan Times.
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